PASIR PUTEH, Dec 22 — Having fried grasshoppers as snack food or a side dish to eat with rice during meals is normal for the farming household in Kelantan.
Fried grasshoppers have been a traditional food among the farming households in Kelantan since a long time ago, and it has become a hit among exotic food lovers.
Entrepreneur Roslina Mohd Othman, 41, of Kampung Bukit Telipot, Gaal, here, said, rain or shine, she must ensure she received constant supply of the insect to meet the demand of her customers for fried grasshoppers.
She said by continuing to meet her customers’ request for fried grasshoppers during the monsoon season, she was also able to help some residents in her village to earn some income, especially the rubber tappers as they could not tap the rubber trees during the rainy season.
“I have 10 villagers whom I pay to find and clean the grasshoppers,” she said, adding that her children helped with the packaging and selling the product online.
Roslina said she required about two kilogrammes of live grasshoppers daily to keep her business going.
She said she started the fried grasshopper business after having to close her food shop due to the implementation of the movement control order following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I have been operating my food shop business, selling mee celup and other hot dishes for 16 years when I had to stop due to Covid-19 outbreak.
“I have been selling fried grasshoppers also for some time, but not on regular basis, only to meet orders. I never expect that by promoting it online, many people want it,” she said.
She now has 40 agents who helped sell her fried grasshoppers.
“I inherited the recipe for fried grasshoppers from my mother, Hamidah Jusoh, 71, but now I have added flavours to it.
“The fried grasshopper product I’m selling now has three flavours, turmeric, ‘kerutuk’ and cheesy. They are sold at different prices.
“For a 75gm fried grasshoppers with the turmeric flavour, it is RM10, RM12 for 100gm of fried grasshopper with the kerutuk taste and RM13 for a 70gm cheesy fried grasshoppers,” said the mother of four, adding that she was able to make sales of RM10,000 a month. — Bernama
